Records show Applewhite was only UT staffer reprimanded

Updated 10:32 am, Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Major Applewhite has been promoted twice since being reprimanded for having an inappropriate encounter with a student-trainer.

Major Applewhite has been promoted twice since being reprimanded for having an inappropriate encounter with a student-trainer.

Photo: Harry Cabluck, AP

Records show Applewhite was only UT staffer reprimanded

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AUSTIN — A review of Texas' athletic department records showed no disciplinary action taken against any current staffer except for Major Applewhite, the assistant football coach reprimanded four years ago for what the school called "inappropriate, consensual behavior" with a student-trainer.

The San Antonio Express-News on Monday obtained the personnel files of 51 current and former UT athletics employees — a list including the men's and women's athletic directors, every head coach, and more than a dozen assistants — through the Texas Public Information Act. The information was requested last month, the day after UT released Applewhite's letter of reprimand four years after it had been written by men's athletic director DeLoss Dodds.

In those 51 files, only Applewhite's revealed any acknowledgement of discipline. In addition to the letter of reprimand issued after his transgression during the Longhorns' trip to the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, Applewhite also received a letter of admonishment for violating an NCAA rule by using chewing tobacco at December's Valero Alamo Bowl.

But the records were far from comprehensive. Several staffers' files lacked performance reviews for multiple seasons. And there was no mention, for instance, of baseball coach Augie Garrido's 2009 suspension after a drunken driving arrest or of former soccer coach Chris Petrucelli's 2011 reassignment.

UT spokesman Nick Voinis said the school released "everything on paper" in the personnel files. Some data, including banking and insurance information, was redacted.

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The documents were released as UT's athletic department continues to face scrutiny stemming from the forced resignation of women's track and field coach Bev Kearney in January. A lawyer for Kearney, who was suspended last fall after school officials learned she'd had a prolonged affair with a student-athlete a decade earlier, has said she is considering a discrimination-based lawsuit against UT.

Kearney and her lawyer also have suggested other staffers at UT — in the athletic department and elsewhere — have not been disciplined for similar relationships.

UT said Applewhite admitted to his mistake within a month of it taking place. In explaining its discipline against Kearney, the school pointed to a university rule discouraging staffers from maintaining consensual relationships with students under their supervision and requiring them to report them if they occur.

Applewhite had his salary frozen for more than a year after the letter of reprimand, but coach Mack Brown said he never considered dismissing him. Since then, Applewhite has been promoted twice (most recently to offensive play-caller) and is being paid a base salary of $600,000 in 2013.

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All of the performance reviews in Applewhite's file are overwhelmingly positive. In a document dated April 27, 2009, Brown awarded Applewhite perfect ratings in each of 10 evaluation items (including employee relations), left a section for weaknesses blank and praised him for "great honesty and integrity and work ethic."